Cons:

If Blizzard learned one clear lesson from its last World of Warcraft expansion, it's that you can't go home again. Cataclysm is fueled by nostalgia, dragging us back to a world we loved when both we and the MMORPG genre were young, but the effect was like that of well-meaning friends dragging us off to all-night '80s theme parties. In small doses, the outdated settings coax out a smile and jog a few good memories, but taken in excess, we leave wondering what we found so appealing about glam bands in the first place. With Mists of Pandaria, though, Blizzard reveals an understanding that WoW must remain on the move to retain its charm. It stays as far away from the old world as possible, returning only for visits to the auction houses in faction cities and three level 90 dungeons based on classic favorites. The approach works, especially since we're forced to experience this new world on land mounts until Level 90.

Kind of makes SIlvermoon City look like a rat's nest, doesn't it?

It brings back welcome pleasures of exploring I haven't felt in WoW since Burning Crusade.

The Asian aesthetic of the continent of Pandaria allows for countless visual surprises that break from the tired trappings of the standard Western-fantasy RPG, whether it's the tortuous Serpent Spine that mimics the Great Wall of China or the Skyrim-like mountains of Kun-Lai Summit. It brings back the welcome pleasures of exploring a new and alien land I haven't felt in WoW since 2007's Burning Crusade. It allows for some visually intensive settings that make the old world's models look like sketches for a cartoon, such as the breathtaking Temple of the Jade Serpent dungeon with its piles of manuscripts and masterfully crafted columns.

Same Old WoW

Yet even if the clothes are different, it's hard to escape the impression that this is still the same old game we've been playing for almost eight years. The easy acquisition of loot remains the be-all and end-all of the WoW experience, as evidenced by Blizzard's recent decision to abandon an older model that would have locked low level 90 gear behind a benign reputation barrier. Almost all of the new features remain entrenched behind its subscription wall, and the old-style system of tagged enemies encourages selfishness rather than random acts of cooperation. Regardless, several concessions to modernization have wormed their way into the experience, such as named quest enemies who can be attacked by all players for credit regardless of whether they're grouped or not, but the questing structure as a whole still revolves around the same mechanics of killing or collecting X number of Y.

And sometimes, you're the y.

you're the y.>

These quests are WoW's finest.

To Blizzard's credit, though, leveling has never been more exciting than Pandaria's journey from level 85 to 90. These quests are WoW's finest, filled with excellent voice acting, phasing that gives some sense of having an effect on the world around you, a welcome balance between weighty topics like the escalating war between the Alliance and the Horde, and lighthearted fare such as following Warcraft 3 hero Chen Stormstout on his quest to find the perfect brew.

Yet it's also a solitary experience as a result -- one better suited to single-player games -- as the phasing involved prevents you from questing with your friends unless you're synced up. It's also stubbornly linear, despite some renewed rewards for exploration after Cataclysm, meaning that you'll have to go back and pick up the threads of the main story quest even if you abandon it for a nearby quest hub. Even group questing has gone the way of the dodo, and after the joys of Guild Wars 2's dynamic events in the open world, it's worth wondering if Blizzard is losing sight of the fact that the appeal of MMORPGs rest on their social strengths more than anything else.

Keeping Us Apart

That's not to say that group activities aren't still here in droves, but they're almost exclusively instanced and accessible through WoW's dungeon finder, apart from the open-world bosses designed for 40 or more players. The new three-man scenarios (a nod to Lord of the Rings Online's skirmishes) stand in for group quests, for example, placing random groups in a variety of situations that usually involve saving beer with varying degrees of gravitas or pitting players against evil spirits shambling in forgotten crypts. They're generally fun (save for the Theramore scenario, a pre-launch disappointment that makes an unwelcome comeback for level 90 players), and they provide a way to experience the fun of World of Warcraft's dungeons without putting up with the pressures of a traditional dungeon group with tanks, healers, and DPS.

In any event, don't forget to stay out of the fire, kids!

Challenge mode is a love letter to Blizzard's most hardcore players.

Five-man dungeons still exist, of course, and you can partake in nine of them on heroic difficulty once you reach the level cap. They're fun but short -- harking back more to the dungeons of Wrath than the brutal old-style dungeons Blizzard released with Cataclysm -- and the mechanics involved on most boss fights benefit from enough dynamics to keep lazy players from button mashing through their rotations. If you want an additional level of challenge, though, Mists of Pandaria also introduces the new Challenge Mode dungeons that normalize gear and award achievements, mounts, and cosmetic gear depending on how you scored with your time. Brutal and unforgiving -- you can't even queue through them through the random dungeons finder -- they're a love letter to Blizzard's most hardcore players and a strong counterargument to spurious claims that World of Warcraft no longer poses any skill-based trials outside of heroic raids.

Yes, There Are Pandas

Still, you might be tempted to think that anyway with all the pandaren running around. In theory, at least, Mists of Pandaria is less about the the anthropomorphic bamboo-munchers who spout Confucian aphorisms and more about the war between the Alliance and the Horde -- but it's hard to think otherwise when they're almost everywhere in Pandaria and when, in a first for World of Warcraft, both factions can play them. Blizzard handles them well, though, and with no more silliness than we've seen in the past with gnomes and goblins (and ogres, for that matter).

Paradoxically, this may be WoW at its most mature, as its tales of the corrupting influence of the Sha hint at a more sinister enemy than the Lich King's predictable undead hordes. For every pandaren who talks about his mud-based brew in a drawling Texas accent, there are a dozen more who offer weighty wisdom on the brewing faction battle and the catastrophic consequences of hate. My favorite are the Shado-Pan, the secretive monastic order devoted to protecting Pandaria, who go a long way toward proving that you can, in fact, mention the words badass and pandaren in the same sentence.

But man, do they love their beer.

The new animations designed to complement the unique abilities grant Monks a unique liveliness.

Pandarens also bring the new Monk class with them, one of the most unique classes we've seen in WoW in a while. For one, Monk combat centers around the use of hands and feet rather than traditional weapons (although they can equip a few, such as polearms and fist weapons), and for another, their three specializations allow them the unique opportunity to fulfill any of the traditional dungeon and raid roles of tank, healer, or DPS. Whatever you choose, it's a fun, fast-paced class with a noticeable skill cap, and the new animations designed to complement the unique abilities grant the class a liveliness missing in others.

Pokemon and Farmville

Aside from all the the new dungeons and classes and other expected goodies, Mists of Pandaria is also the first expansion that does its best to make sure you always have something to do. It's most apparent in the new pet battles, which allow you to battle your cosmetic companion pets with other players or NPCs and level them up to 25, and it's especially rewarding for veteran players who've amassed dozens of the formerly useless critters over the years. True, the system shamelessly mimics the classic formula laid down by Pokemon -- Pokedex, swappable pets, capturable pets, interchangeable abilities, it's all here -- but it does it so well that you can't help but express admiration. It's a time-waster, yes, but I've already found good use for it while waiting for stragglers during outdated old raids for cosmetic gear. Before, if you remember, players had little recourse but to run around in circles and jump while waiting for others to show up.

It's surprising they didn't include the little red and white balls, too.

Pandaria rewards your time, and gives you ample reason for participating.

The daily-quest system also enjoys some improvements (even if most of the quests themselves are fetch-and-kill at their core), complete with a Farmville-like juggle of planting and harvesting in the Valley of the Four Winds and an option to raise your own Cloud Serpent for a mount. Both are better than you would expect, although it's disappointing that the farming simulation doesn't wither your crops if you neglect to harvest them. Yet the inclusion of other daily quests across multiple zones and factions spice up the experience even further to the point that it could take hours to finish them all, and Blizzard gives additional reasons to complete them by including a handful of Valor points, the top-tier currency needed to buy the best epic gear from reputation vendors. Pandaria's thus an expansion that rewards your time, and one that gives you ample reason for participating in almost every one of its many features.

Oh, Right -- We're Supposed to be Fighting Each Other

It's a shame, then, that Mists of Pandaria doesn't include an open PvP raid zone, the kind we saw in Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm, but at least its two new PvP battlegrounds feel better designed than Blizzard's forced attempts at innovation over the last two expansions. Goals and objectives take a back seat to the sheer glories of combat in the arena-style Temple of Kotmugu, for instance, and the dynamic objectives of Silvershard Mine sidestep the unrewarding slog of guarding a post in a previous battleground like Arathi Basin. Indeed, these two designs point to the philosophy underlying Mists of Pandaria as a whole: instead of attempting to attract new players with convoluted designs for the sake of novelty, Blizzard's designers focus their attention of presenting polished and enjoyable takes on concepts they know will work.

Team Fortress 2, anyone?

Pandaria suffers from an overreliance on aging MMORPG standbys and the absence of old favorites.

Mists of Pandaria is thus an expansion for players who aren't jaded by the classic World of Warcraft, and judged solely on the amount and quality of its content, it's one of WoW's best expansions to date. Sure, it suffers from an overreliance on aging MMORPG standbys and the absence of old favorites such as PvP raid zones, but on the whole it's an expansion that shows that Blizzard can still hold its own in an MMORPG market that's increasingly crowded with worthy competitors.

If there's a problem, it's that some elements (such as the promised war between the Alliance and the Horde) seem put aside for future patches as WoW continues to evolve post-expansion, which may give the impression that Blizzard threw the idea by the wayside while the factions settle in with the pandaren. The experience as a whole bears the weight of age despite the freedom granted by the new setting -- for all the scenarios, challenge modes, pet battles, and quirky daily quests, you never lose the idea that this is the same old World of Warcraft in flashier duds. For many players, that may be enough. World of Warcraft is one of the few MMORPGs that manages to pull off a satisfying endgame (and thereby justify its outdated subscription model), and the classes and gameplay have reached a blinding level of polish over the last seven years. While it's no longer the only choice out there for a great MMO experience, World of Warcraft seems content with its place.

The future of WoW appears bright for now, even if it's entering its twilight years. Are Mists of Pandaria's charms enough to lure you back to Warcraft's world, or have you found a new virtual home in another realm?

Wanna see how Leif arived here? Read his review in progress on the following pages.